CSK were outclassed by GT in all facets of the game at Chepauk.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) suffered a crushing eight-wicket defeat in their IPL 2026 match against Gujarat Titans (GT) at Chepauk on Sunday (April 26).
Invited to bat first, CSK were reduced to 37/4 before Ruturaj Gaikwad (74* off 60) slammed his first fifty of the season, batting all 20 overs to propel the hosts to 158/7 in 20 overs.
In reply, the Titans overhauled the target with 20 deliveries to spare. Sai Sudharsan was the top scorer with 87 off 46 balls, while Shubman Gill (33 off 23) and Jos Buttler (39* off 30) made significant contributions in the chase.
Speaking during the post-match presentation, CSK skipper Gaikwad described the pitch as difficult, two-paced, and with uneven bounce. He noted that if they had not lost too many wickets early in the powerplay, a total of 170-180 would have been competitive.
“To be honest, sometimes I hate to assess it in that way, but I really felt it was challenging a bit, especially for the medium pacers, it held up a bit and was two paced. Even the bounce was a bit up and down, but I felt if we hadn't lost too many wickets up front, we would have still reached maybe 170 or 180, that would have been competitive. However, I really doubt that, even after batting powerplay, we just kept coming in. It was a bit difficult to play some shots,” Gaikwad said.
According to Gaikwad, this particular pitch was hard to assess and he also conceded that they were too late to adapt.
“Not expected, to be honest. You know, it's really hard to assess how it's going to play. Last three games we played here, I think we kind of, you know, got to know how it will play or you kind of, you know, we were in a situation where we felt, okay, 60% is going to play like this, 70% is going to play like this, but this game, we didn't have any idea about how it will play and, you know, by the time we wanted to adapt and change, we were too late and then after that, even we wanted, we tried, but it just didn't come off,” he added.
The captain also provided a sneak peek into his conversation with head coach Stephen Fleming during the first timeout.
“You know, at the first timeout when Flem (CSK coach Stephen Fleming) came out, I said to be that I'm trying to be positive, I'm trying to be aggressive, but it's just, sometimes I'm waiting. The ball is popping up a bit, and sometimes I'm waiting for, for snowballs, or the ball to come at a pace which the last delivery came, but it just came up a bit too quickly or with a bit more bounce, or a bit less bounce, so I told him I'm trying to change as much as possible, but it's just not happening right at the moment,” he stated.
Gaikwad admitted that it was an "off day right from ball one" and acknowledged that the team was "lethargic in the field".
“It was really difficult to change every ball, whether, what would happen, so it was just about judging or expecting that it'll come good, but it just didn't. I would say it was an off day right from ball one, and I also felt we were a bit lethargic in the field. Although they started off really well, we need to put that aside and look forward to the next one,” he remarked.
Prior to this match, Ruturaj Gaikwad struggled with form, registering scores of 6, 28, 7, 15, 7, 19 and 22, leading to underwhelming numbers in the first half of the season.
Reflecting on his first meaningful score, Gaikwad mentioned that the wicket was not playing well and the top-order collapse forced him to drop anchor and rebuild, rather than play his natural game.
“I got off to a really good start, 10 off 6, and then I just thought, I'll keep that momentum up, but then you saw just three quick wickets fall right in front of you. I thought you need a bit of partnership, as the wicket wasn't playing well. And then after that, we were trying to go on a particular bowler, then again a wicket fell, and then, I thought, okay, let's just take my time, bat and just rotate strike. Any other day or any other pitch, I feel, I would have rotated strike a bit more, but as I said, I was trying and to see that on the scorecard, number of balls and very less number of runs, obviously it is frustrating, but once I got hit, I just thought, I'll just get going. I'll just see how I can change my momentum and even if I get out now, it's still around five, six overs left, so nothing much left. So that was the moment I thought I'd just start going now,” he said.
CSK planned to bat through the powerplay with only one or two wickets down, intending to bring in bowler Mukesh as the Impact Player for the second innings to bolster their bowling attack. Due to losing quick wickets early on, they were forced to abandon the plan of bringing in a bowler.
Gaikwad explained the tactical decision behind the Impact Sub usage. "No, I think we were batting really well, so we thought once we cross the power play with one or two down, we would just get a bowler in for the second innings. Mukesh was supposed to come in, but we lost two quick wickets. So I think in the fourth over, we had to get a batter in and then make sure that we get some runs. Unfortunately, it didn't work out, but I think the thought process was really good," he concluded.